Seattle Socialists Demand $15 Minimum Wage; Pays Workers Less

Seattle-based group The Freedom Socialist Party, which owns socialism.com and regularly campaigns for a $15/hour minimum wage, advertised a job on Wednesday that offers just $13 an hour.

The group has taken particular interest in campaigning for a higher minimum wage in Seattle, where the posted job is located.

The advertised job’s Indeed.com description says that the wage is negotiable depending on experience, but the group has said that living wage must start at at least $15–not $13 or $14 an hour.

“Seattle livable? Not hardly! The Seattle fight has moved from the streets to City Hall. In May, new Mayor Ed Murray, Democrat, announced his proposal for $15/hour — for some workers, after several years. Healthcare, tips, and other ‘compensation’ would be calculated into their ‘income.’ In short, Mayor Murray’s plan caters to big business,” the group wrote in June.

They also accused big businesses of showing ‘phony concern’ for small businesses.

“The campaign for a $15 minimum wage could expose big business’ phony concern for small businesses by demanding solutions that correct the huge tax imbalance between corporations and genuinely small businesses,” the group wrote.

Looks like the Freedom Socialist Party is also having issues with phony concern.

I can only imagine what their excuse will be: "Oh, but we would love to pay our workers more than $15 an hour, but we simply can't afford that right now!"

Oh, and what makes you think that the businesses that you want to force to pay this minimum wage are able to afford it?

That's the problem with minimum wage laws: they're one-size-fits-all "solutions" that assume that all businesses can afford to comply with them, when, in reality, it will only hurt small businesses that can't afford it while bigger businesses will be able to remain afloat.

And no, it would not matter if this group were consistent with their puerile political beliefs and they did pay their employees more than $15 an hour. That still doesn't change the fact that minimum wage laws decrease unemployment the same way gun control laws decrease gun violence and drug laws decrease drug abuse. A bad idea does not become good because more people subscribe to it. That's not how reality works!